January 9
Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan calls for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Whitewater allegations.

January 12
Clinton himself asks for a special prosecutor to investigate Whitewater.

February 3
Clinton ends the 19-year-old trade embargo against Vietnam.

April 27
Clinton, joined by former Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush, attends the funeral of former President Richard Nixon, eulogizing Nixon for his diplomatic achievements.

May 6Paula Jones files a federal lawsuit against
Clinton accusing him of sexually harassing Jones
in May 1991, before he was president.

May 13
Clinton nominates Stephen Breyer to the Supreme
Court; the Senate confirms him two months later.

July 26
Congress starts hearings on the Whitewater allegations.

August 5
A panel of three federal judges chooses Kenneth
Starr to take over the Whitewater investigation
as independent counsel.

August 19
Clinton declares that Cuban refugees will no longer be guaranteed residency when they reach the United States.

September 12
A single-engine private airplane crashes on the south lawn of the White House, killing the pilot, Eugene Corder, whose death is later ruled a suicide.

September 15
Clinton orders Haiti's military regime to step down or face a U.S. military invasion. The regime relents and one month later Jean-Bertrand Aristide -- ousted in a 1991 coup -- is reinstated as president.

October 26
Clinton is a witness in the Jordanian seaport of Aqaba as officials from Israel and Jordan sign a peace treaty settling most issues between the two countries.

October 29
A Colorado man, Francisco Martin Duran, shoots a semi-automatic rifle into the north facade of the White House and is stopped by two passersby when he attempts to reload; no one is injured.

November 8
Republicans win major victories in the midterm elections. For the first time in four decades, the GOP controls both the House and Senate.

December 6Webster Hubbell, a close friend of Bill Clinton's
and a former U.S. associate attorney general, pleads
guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion. He is later
sentenced to 21 months in prison.

December 9
Clinton dismisses Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders
after she makes remarks widely interpreted as advocating
schoolchildren should be taught about masturbation.

January
Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked on January 6. Her skating rival, Tonya Harding, and Harding's husband are blamed. Harding later pleads guilty to conspiracy charges, and she is banned from skating competition. Kerrigan recovers and goes on to win a silver medal at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

January
An earthquake centered near Northridge, California, rips through the Los Angeles area on January 17, killing 51 people and causing widespread damage.

April-May
South Africa's first free and open balloting marks
the end of apartheid and makes Nelson Mandela
the nation's president.

April-August
The worst known genocide in Africa takes place in Rwanda as government-supported Hutu militias massacre minority Tutsis. An estimated 1 million people are killed, including those who died in the ensuing civil war. The crisis creates a massive refugee problem that further destabilizes central Africa.

May
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and President François Mitterrand of France open the Eurotunnel, or "Chunnel," under the English Channel on May 6.

May
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, widow of President John F. Kennedy and millionaire shipper Aristotle Onassis, dies of cancer on May 19 at age 64.

June
The former wife of sports celebrity O.J. Simpson, Nicole Brown Simpson, and a male acquaintance are murdered in Los Angeles on June 12. Simpson flees, then surrenders, and goes on trial for the killings.

July
More than 20 fragments of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit the planet Jupiter over the latter half of the month. Astronomers around the world watch in awe.

December
Russian troops enter Chechnya to suppress separatist movement. The fighting claims tens of thousands of lives and continues for two years until a peace agreement is reached.